Back to trying to write up the books I read last year before I completely forget them!
Book 26 - The Book of Separation: a Memoir (Tova Mirvis) [Audio]
As I am married to a Jew and had a Jewish grandfather (who died long before I was born) books about Jewish life interest me so I used one of my monthly Audible credits on The Book of Separation. Born and raised an orthodox Jew, Tova Mirvis married an orthodox man and continued to follow the way of life expected within that community. Over time, she came to chafe against the constraints imposed on her and to lose her faith. This eventually came to a head and she left her family to start a new, secular life. I found the book less interesting than I thought I would. I found it difficult to relate to her experiences, and I'm afraid I found her voice (she narrated the book herself) rather hard to listen to. Perhaps I expected a kind of modern, Jewish version of Monica Baldwin's I Leap Over the Wall which I had read a few weeks earlier, and the book didn't live up to that expectation.
*** 3 stars
Book 27 - Lincoln in the Bardo (George Saunders)
I picked this book as it had won the Man Booker Prize for 2017 and the premise sounded intriguing. Abraham Lincoln's son Willie has just died and his father visits him in the crypt where he is buried. Willie, however, is aware of these visits as he is in the "bardo", a kind of interim state between life and death (or rebirth?), along with many other residents of the graveyard. Much of the book is written in their voices. The tone is very odd - the phrase "experimental novel" should have been a clue! I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I also didn't struggle to get through it. Probably a three and a half star book for me.
*** 3 stars
Book 28 - The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science (Will Storr)
This exercise of writing book reviews over a year after I read the book is very good for me, forcing me to think hard to recall what I read. Sometimes I have to cheat and check the book description and this is one of those times. Will Storr travelled the world exploring why intelligent people believe the unbelievable, and concluded that many people are more likely to believe stories with which they identify than facts. I wish I remembered the book better, as I enjoyed reading it.
**** 4 stars
Book 29 - The Girls of Slender Means (Muriel Spark) [Audio]
I think the only other book by Muriel Spark I have read is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie which I very much enjoyed. The Girls of Slender Means was a bit of a disappointment. The "girls" are residents of a hostel for young working women in London in 1945, whose characters I mostly found rather irritating. I also felt I might have enjoyed this more in print than as an audio book.
*** 3 stars
Book 30 - I Shall Wear Midnight (Terry Pratchett)
I came late to Terry Pratchett, and I am working through his Discworld series as and when I feel in the mood for light fantasy reading. There are actually multiple Discworld sequences, as different characters and settings have their own individual series of books. I Shall Wear Midnight is the fourth book in what is probably my favourite sub-series, about young witch Tiffany Aching. In the first book, The Wee Free Men, the child Tiffany discovers both that she is a witch, that she has acquired a fan club of extremely combative and persistent miniature blue men who speak in Scottish accents and think she is the new leader of their clan. In I Shall Wear Midnight Tiffany visits the capital city of Ankh Morpork, is attacked by an evil spirit known as the Cunning Man, and is locked up in a dungeon. All typical, fast moving Terry Pratchett, readable and enjoyable.
**** 4 stars
CRAZY PAVING: "A form of paving, as for a path, made of slabs of stone of irregular shape fitted together."
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Monday, 3 June 2019
Back to Genoa
I took advantage of last week's school half term holiday to take my youngest daughter over to Italy for a couple of days to visit her sister in Genoa - she will be back for good in a couple of weeks, and we wanted to see a bit more of the area while she was still there.
We had a very early flight on Tuesday morning and had to be at the airport soon after 4.00am. Fortunately we only live 25 minutes away! The early start meant we were in Genoa and checked into our hotel by 11am. We met up with the Genovese daughter at a railway station and caught a train to the Cinque Terre, an area I had been wanting to visit for a while. These five small towns are one of the most picturesque parts of the Italian coast, and in high season are swamped with tourists. In May they are busy, but not unmanageably so.
We didn't have time to visit all five towns, but managed three. We started at Monterosso where we spent an hour or so on the beach and ate ice cream (of course!). Next stop was Riomaggiore where we walked round the coast to reach a popular view point. Finally we went to Manorola where we ate dinner before catching the train back to Genoa. The weather forecast was dubious with the possibility of storms, but we hit lucky; the black clouds stayed over the hills behind the Cinque Terre and we stayed dry. There was even a bit of sunshine while we were on the beach. There was torrential rain while we were on the train, but it had stopped by the time we got back to Genoa.
On Wednesday we explored some of Genoa's palaces. The Nuove Strade and the palazzi dei rolli (palaces of the rolls) are considered such a unique example of early city planning that the are is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. We visited the Palazzo Reale (part palace and part museum) and walked down the Via Garibaldi, peering into some of the palaces which line the street. After a bit of shopping - I have daughters; they shop - we went to an eat-all-you-like sushi restaurant which had been recommended to H. This was definitely one of our highlights as we all three love Japanese food, and at €11.50 each it was a bargain.
We walked off our lunch with a stroll along the sea front to Boccadasse, a small pebble beach to the south of the city. We sat on the beach playing cards and watching with fascinated horror as a group of small children, probably a nursery class as they were about 4 or 5 years old, entertained themselves throwing stones into the sea, often narrowly missing each other. As some of the stones were definitely more rock than pebble we were anticipating disaster, but nobody got damaged. Apparently "health and safety" hasn't reached Italy.
We bought ice creams from an artisan gelateria by the beach. H is dairy free and I mostly avoid dairy so we went for the vegan options, pistachio and hazelnut. These were possibly the best ice creams I have ever tasted, with nut pieces (almond with the pistachio and peanut with the hazelnut) and marbled with chocolate fondant. We washed the ice creams down with a glass of beer (coke for the 12 year old) and caught the bus back into the city. A bit more shopping happened, then we went to the port area for a cocktail (or mocktail, according to age). H took us to a cafe-bar which sold cocktails for €8.50 and included access to a buffet with the drink making it incredibly good value.
On Thursday morning we had to leave for the airport straight after breakfast. I decided that as we only had light luggage, the easiest way to get there from our hotel would be to catch a standard service bus, followed by a short walk at the airport end. This was good in theory. Unfortunately when we got off the bus there was a confusion of busy roads, flyovers and railway tracks between us and the airport, and Google Maps was not being helpful. After using my extremely limited Italian to ask a policeman and some workmen for directions we managed to find our way, but it took 30 minutes rather than the 7 minutes Google Maps claimed. At one point I was beginning to fear we would still be wandering when our flight took off! Airport issues struck again at the other end. We had used meet and greet parking, and as I forgot to phone to say we had arrived we had a long wait for our car. Oops.
It really was a lovely trip, though thanks to the early start, two busy days and lots of walking I was definitely ready for a rest by the time I got home. An added bonus for me is seeing how much my daughters enjoy each other's company, even though there is an eight year age gap.
We had a very early flight on Tuesday morning and had to be at the airport soon after 4.00am. Fortunately we only live 25 minutes away! The early start meant we were in Genoa and checked into our hotel by 11am. We met up with the Genovese daughter at a railway station and caught a train to the Cinque Terre, an area I had been wanting to visit for a while. These five small towns are one of the most picturesque parts of the Italian coast, and in high season are swamped with tourists. In May they are busy, but not unmanageably so.
Riomaggiore
We didn't have time to visit all five towns, but managed three. We started at Monterosso where we spent an hour or so on the beach and ate ice cream (of course!). Next stop was Riomaggiore where we walked round the coast to reach a popular view point. Finally we went to Manorola where we ate dinner before catching the train back to Genoa. The weather forecast was dubious with the possibility of storms, but we hit lucky; the black clouds stayed over the hills behind the Cinque Terre and we stayed dry. There was even a bit of sunshine while we were on the beach. There was torrential rain while we were on the train, but it had stopped by the time we got back to Genoa.
Manorolo
On Wednesday we explored some of Genoa's palaces. The Nuove Strade and the palazzi dei rolli (palaces of the rolls) are considered such a unique example of early city planning that the are is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. We visited the Palazzo Reale (part palace and part museum) and walked down the Via Garibaldi, peering into some of the palaces which line the street. After a bit of shopping - I have daughters; they shop - we went to an eat-all-you-like sushi restaurant which had been recommended to H. This was definitely one of our highlights as we all three love Japanese food, and at €11.50 each it was a bargain.
Room of mirrors in the Palazzo Reale
Entrance courtyard of a palazzo in the Via Garibaldi
Walking along the sea front towards Boccadasse
The port of Genoa (no filter, the sun was beginning to set and the light was gorgeous)
On Thursday morning we had to leave for the airport straight after breakfast. I decided that as we only had light luggage, the easiest way to get there from our hotel would be to catch a standard service bus, followed by a short walk at the airport end. This was good in theory. Unfortunately when we got off the bus there was a confusion of busy roads, flyovers and railway tracks between us and the airport, and Google Maps was not being helpful. After using my extremely limited Italian to ask a policeman and some workmen for directions we managed to find our way, but it took 30 minutes rather than the 7 minutes Google Maps claimed. At one point I was beginning to fear we would still be wandering when our flight took off! Airport issues struck again at the other end. We had used meet and greet parking, and as I forgot to phone to say we had arrived we had a long wait for our car. Oops.
It really was a lovely trip, though thanks to the early start, two busy days and lots of walking I was definitely ready for a rest by the time I got home. An added bonus for me is seeing how much my daughters enjoy each other's company, even though there is an eight year age gap.
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